Since I was very young, I have been fascinated with aircraft. I’m not sure why, but the idea of flight is something that has occupied my mind for years and years on end. Every time a plane or helicopter flies by, I’ll watch and see if I can figure out what kind of aircraft it is. Every time I pass by an airport or airfield I am completely fascinated with the planes on the ground. There have not been very many opportunities in my local community surrounding aviation, as it isn’t a very important part of life here. This has not stopped me from pursuing it however possible though. In more recent years, I’ve taken every opportunity I can to travel and go to expositions, museums, and airshows to talk to people who actually fly these machines and get to see them up close. Most of the things I do in my free time also around the topic of flight, such as playing video games that allow me to design and pilot aircraft or doing research on different types of aircraft and reading stories of historical events surrounding aviation. This incredible level of interest that I’ve had in aviation has absolutely shaped my future goals, and I know without a shadow of a doubt what I want my career to be. My main goal is to be a pilot in the U.S. Air Force, but being an engineer or aircraft mechanic would be a dream come true as well. I have done a lot of research on the engineering and mechanical side of aircraft, as I am also interested in how they work. Alongside aviation, I am also generally very interested in engineering. I know that with proper training and education I would thrive in any role involved in aviation because of my love for it. My plan to pursue a career in aviation starts with attending Arizona State University and studying Aeronautical Management Technology. While I’m there I will participate in Air Force ROTC to get ahead in my career. After I graduate, I want to join the United States Air Force and pursue becoming a fighter pilot. I have already been accepted into Arizona State, and I am looking forward to attending and beginning my career in aviation. Without an education from college, I would never be able to chase the dreams I have had my entire life.

February 10th, 2022 was the most pivotal day of my life. On that day, I lost my father, whom I looked up to greatly in my life. I didn’t just lose him to some kind of awful accident either, he removed himself from my life by his own hand. This led to me questioning a lot of things about him and about myself. Was I a good enough son? Did he really love me? If he did love me, why would he leave me in this way? These questions linger in my mind to this day, and I’m not sure I’ll ever know their answers. But I do know what that day did to me. I have lived most of my life on a small ranch in northern Wyoming. There has always been a lot of responsibility here for my family, but we could manage it. When things were normal before my dad died I had a lot to do at home alongside my schoolwork, like taking care of livestock and maintaining parts of the property. That lingering responsibility taught me a lot, but it wasn’t crushing because I still had a buffer if things went wrong. My father was a very intelligent man. He was very good at working through problems, which he taught me how to handle. Things like vehicle maintenance, repairing or replacing certain electrical or water systems, and taking care of animals in an emergency. Often times he would encourage me to work through problems on my own, which became a very valuable skill later in my life. If any of my responsibilities became too much for me (or if school became too pressing) however, he would help me and make sure everything in my life was running smoothly. This was something I unknowingly took for granted, and it was fundamentally altered after his death. Once my father died, I came to the heavy realization that despite the fact that I lacked his knowledge and resourcefulness, all of the responsibilities that he handled fell onto my shoulders. I felt the pressure mounting soon after his death. All of our animals, every vehicle and piece of machinery, all of the fences and buildings and nearly everything that allowed us to live on a ranch became mine to maintain. I was 14 years old. It was very overwhelming for me, and over the past four years I have had to learn a lot of things with few people to teach me. I have learned how to be resourceful, how to manage my time, how to prioritize tasks, and most importantly, how to keep going. The circumstance under which I lost my father and the stress of my situation threw me into a deep depression riddled with anxiety, guilt, and grief. On one very difficult occasion it nearly led to my own suicide, though I made the right choice and got help. I still do not know why my father did what he did, and I am sure that I never truly will. I like to believe that he would be proud of the person I am today, but again, I’ll never know for sure. I do know though that his death has, however painfully, helped shape me into someone that I am proud of. Though it remains difficult, I was able to adapt and keep our home and our lives intact, and I know that I am a stronger person because of it.

I wake up and roll out of bed and before I do anything else I go outside and feed my animals. Growing up it was always like this. The word “chore” has a deep meaning to me that I believe is lost on a lot of other people. To most people my age a chore is busy work they have to do around the house. To me, chores are an absolute necessity and have shaped who I am today. As soon as I could walk, my parents were teaching me how to do chores. It started with small things like helping feed the dogs. As I got older, more responsibility was assigned to me. At this point I still believed that the chores were a menial thing assigned to me by my parents. That all changed when my dad died. After he died, I had to take care of pretty much everything he did. It wasn’t just busy work now. The most prevalent thing that all of my chores have taught me is responsibility. Because of all the animals I’ve needed to take care of and all of the property and equipment that I’ve had to maintain, I have learned how to manage my time and get things done quickly and efficiently. I have learned how to do things before someone has to ask me to do them and recognize and acknowledge when I make mistakes and correct them. Another thing I’ve learned alongside responsibility is resourcefulness. More times than I can count, I have had to come up with an unorthodox solution to some kind of problem. Once, I used a length of hose from a shop vacuum to fix a water pump to prevent our shop from flooding in the middle of a rainstorm. Teaching myself new skills has been a must so that I can accomplish new tasks as they come at me, and I have excelled at learning new things on my own. I know that my responsibility and resourcefulness will help me greatly in my future, just as they have greatly helped me in finding success so far. Arguably, the most important thing I have learned from the weight of responsibility I’ve borne for most of my life is my sense of determination. Skills and knowledge are not useful unless they’re applied to something, and a strong sense of determination is the most effective way to apply those things. When I started showing animals, I set a goal in my mind: I wanted a national title. Even after my dad died, I chased that goal and eventually won a title at a large national show in Montana. The reason I mention that is because it connects to a goal I’ve had since I could barely talk: I want to be a pilot. And I know that with everything I have learned, I will be flying those planes. Chores are something that are much more important to me than most other people. They have taught me how to be responsible, resourceful, and they have instilled in me a sense of determination that has brought me far and will continue to propel me into my future. Even after losses, hardships and failures, I know that I will persevere and succeed. If something as simple as doing chores has taught me so much, I look forward to seeing what I will learn later on in life. This scholarship will help me achieve my dream of flying planes by providing the financial means to pay for college. I can then go on to serve my country as a pilot.

I have experienced a fair amount of loss in my life, but none of it compares to losing my father. I was 14 years old and about to go into high school when he died, and up to that point in my life I had never even considered that I could lose someone like that. There have been many aspects to losing him that have weighed very heavily on me over the years, but none of them have gotten as much consideration from me as how he died. I didn't lose my father by an unfortunate accident or a medical emergency, I lost him to suicide. I had a very strong relationship with my father. Spending my life growing up on a small ranch in Wyoming, we worked together on all kinds of things and he taught me a lot. He always seemed very happy and had a deep compassion for people and animals, so it was very jarring to lose him in such a way. His suicide has had a very profound effect on my own mental health, and has led to several mental breakdowns and nearly my own suicide. However, I have since learned how to properly deal with my own mental health and I have developed a great deal of mental fortitude that has helped me greatly through other rough times that I have encountered. As I mentioned, I have grown up on a small ranch. That comes with a lot of responsibility for everyone, especially when it comes to physical work outdoors. Fixing fences and structures, maintaining vehicles and machines, taking care of several different types of animals and dealing with very unfavorable weather conditions (blizzards, heat waves, powerful thunderstorms, etc.) are only a few of the things my father was responsible for. When he died, all of these responsibilities fell to me. This took effect immediately, and the pressure only grew over the next several years. Not only was it physically difficult to actually accomplish all of these tasks and properly maintain our property in the midst of attending high school, the emotional weight of doing it all was incredible. I could never do everything as well as my father could and I often criticized myself very harshly over that. I had to teach myself things he simply didn't have time to, and in doing that learned a great deal of resourcefulness. Despite all of the challenges I faced in the wake of my father's death, I know for a fact that I am a much stronger person for it. I have managed to maintain everything he did at home and still succeed in school. One of my greatest accomplishments is the fact that I didn't give up doing anything I loved. I continued playing ice hockey and ran long distance in track and field. I continued volunteering with my FFA chapter, and I continued to play outside of school with my school's orchestra. I know that no matter what I face in life, the tragic loss of my father has made me a strong enough person to take it on.